Ocean Parking - Disabled Badge - POPLA refused appeal

mikemhac

Hi

I hope someone can help me. In January 2023 at the Peel Centre Stockport I obtained a valid tick and parked in a disabled Bay.My badge was on the seat and could be seen . I think we put it on dashboard but I have stage 4 terminal cancer and my wife had some difficulty getting out of the car so may have knocked it off not really sure. I came back to car there was no ticket in the window. About 5 days later I received a notification in the post  of a PCN for not displaying a Blue Badge. I appealed the decision to POPLA but they upheld the ticket. I have now received a letter from Debt Recovery Plus demanding payment plus charges for £160. I do not believe I should pay this I have provided Ocean and POPLA a copy of my blue badge. How should I respond to this can anyone advise please.
Thanks

B789

Welcome. You say you appealed to POPLA, you must have first appealed to the PPC which would have been rejected and then the POPLA code would have been supplied.

On what basis did you appeal to POPLA? They are only interested in points of law and do not take any mitigating circumstances into account. However, their decision is not binding and you are now in a sort of limbo until the PPC decides whether they want to take the alleged debt you owe them to small claims court.

You can safely ignore any more correspondence from the PPC or their useless debt collectors. The debt collectors will send you a wave of scary demand letters threatening CCJ hell and bailiff damnation. You need to understand that the "ticket" you received is not a fine or anything but a speculative invoice for allegedly breaching the terms and conditions on the signs at the car park and that they allege that you are now in debt to them. The debt collectors are not a party to the contact you allegedly beached and so have no power, whatsoever, to do anything about it. They are contracted by the PPC on a no-win, no-fee basis to scare gullible victims of this scam into paying up because most victims are unaware of their rights and the law, no thanks to the education system.

DO NOT, under any circumstances, make any contact with the debt collectors. They have no part in this except to try and make gullible victims poop their pants and capitulate into paying into the scam.

Your best plan for now, is to have a good read of the Newbies/FAQ thread near the top of this forum and keep referring back to it every time you have a question. It is your go-to reference.

If/when you get a real Letter of Claim at some point in the future, you will then need to do something. In the meantime, have you tried Plan A, contacting the store or the landowner and asking them to get the PCN cancelled? Also, contact your MP about this scam and get them to write to the PPC on your behalf

mikemhac

Thank you, yes I did appeal to company first should have said that, they keep addressing it to company secretary even though its a motability vehicle, I have not told them who the driver was. I have seen some posts somewhere redaring the Equalities Act, Do you know if this applies in this instance,?

Thanks again for the advice

B789

mikemhac said:

Thank you, yes I did appeal to company first should have said that, they keep addressing it to company secretary even though its a motability vehicle, I have not told them who the driver was. I have seen some posts somewhere redaring the Equalities Act, Do you know if this applies in this instance,?

Is the car registered in your name or is it registered by a lease company?

Yes, the EA can also be used in any defence, if necessary. You may want to show us the POPLA assessor's reasons for refusing the appeal, on which points. You also must explain to the people you contact for Plan A that there is no legal requirement to display the blue badge and as soon as you found out about the PCN you sent them a copy of a valid at the time BB. This should also be mentioned to your MP.

B789

This is something you could use and tweak as necessary to email to your MP:

Subject: Request for Intervention Regarding Unfair Parking Charge Notice (PCN) from an Unregulated Private Parking Company

Dear [Your MP's Last Name],

I am reaching out to you as a constituent in your [Constituency Name] constituency, to bring to your attention a deeply concerning issue I am currently facing with a private parking company, namely [PPC name].

Recently, after visiting {name of location/car park] I received a Parking Charge Notice (PCN) issued on the grounds of not displaying my Blue Badge "correctly". As a terminal cancer patient, I am troubled by this accusation, which I believe is both false and unjust.

On the occasion in question, my wife, who is disabled, and I experienced difficulty in exiting our vehicle, during which the Blue Badge may have been knocked from the dashboard onto the seat. However, it was clearly visible through the windows. Importantly, it is not a legal requirement to place the Blue Badge specifically on the dashboard, but merely to display it, which was the case here.

In response to the PCN, I appealed and provided a copy of the Blue Badge, which is valid and in date, as evidence of our compliance. Despite this, both [PPC name] and POPLA have dismissed our appeal and decided that the PCN was issued correctly, seemingly ignoring the evidence provided.

I am deeply concerned that in dismissing the validity of the Blue Badge, [PPC name] may have breached the Equality Act 2010. As you are aware, this Act is designed to protect individuals like my wife and me from discrimination, and it is deeply troubling that [PPC name]and POPLA seem to have failed to acknowledge this. 

Adding to this, no Notice to Driver (NtD) was left on the car, even though an operative of the PPC at the location must have reported our vehicle as being present at the time of the alleged breach of the car park's terms and conditions. This absence of an NtD further complicates the situation and we only found out about the PCN when it arrived in the post about five days later.

The situation has now escalated, and I am being harassed by a debt collector that has been contracted by [PPC name], who has unjustly increased the charge from £100 to £170. The debt collector is not a party to any contract that the PPC alleges I have breached and their threatening involvement adds to the distress caused by this situation.

My wife and I are very upset, angered, and deeply distressed by this treatment. It appears to me that this [PPC name], operating in an unregulated manner, is using unscrupulous methods to exploit and intimidate vulnerable individuals such as myself and my wife.

I am writing to kindly request your assistance in this matter. I hope you can raise this issue on my behalf and challenge the actions of [PPC name]. I believe your intervention could lead to a fair and just resolution to this situation.

Thank you for your time and consideration. I look forward to your response and assistance.

Yours sincerely,

Le_Kirk

B789 said:

This is something you could use and tweak as necessary to email to your MP:

Subject: Request for Intervention Regarding Unfair Parking Charge Notice (PCN) from an Unregulated Private Parking Company

Dear [Your MP's Last Name],

I am reaching out to contacting you as a constituent in your [Constituency Name] constituency, to bring to your attention a deeply concerning issue I am currently facing with a private parking company, namely [PPC name].

Maybe get rid of that horrible phrase.

B789

Yup. I did say it should be "tweaked" as necessary. 

Fruitcake

B789 said:

 Importantly, it is not a legal requirement to place the Blue Badge specifically on the dashboard, but merely to display it, which was the case here.

The Blue Badge scheme does not apply on private land. There is no legal nor lawful requirement to display it at all, although many motorists do as a courtesy.

Failing to make allowances by anticipating the needs of a disabled motorist who has protected characteristics as defined by the Equality Act 2010 is indirect discrimination, and a criminal offence.
Once the PPC is aware of the motorist's disability, to pursue the charge becomes direct discrimination.

Coupon-mad

I'd just ignore it if the landowner won't cancel.  Your peace of mind is more important.

Get your local MP to complain for you.

mikemhac

Thanks Everyone I have now contacted my mp will update when I get further.

mikemhac

Hi All,

Current update contac ted MP who contacted British Parking Association who said Ocean don enothing wrong and result still stands. Ocean as good will gesture have reduced fee from £160 to £100 for 14 days. I am terminally ill with cancer is it worth making them aware of that or will they just speed things up to make sure they catch me while they can.